ESI has signed an interesting partnership with Parc surrounding its hybrid virtual prototyping and data-driven analytics solutions

A partnership between virtual prototyping software company ESI Group and PARC, a Xerox company and provider of custom R&D and technology to companies and government agencies will initially focus on expanding and industrializing PARC’s advanced research project on Fault Augmented Model Extension (FAME).

Initiated with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the partnership will develop system reliability modeling, system safety assessment, predictive maintenance, and condition-based maintenance.

New libraries and support make up this release for KeyShot users as they wait for the launch of KeyShot 7

Lexicon has announced the release of KeyShot 6.3 with new import libraries and expanded support for the latest releases of Autodesk Alias, Inventor and Maya, Siemens NX and Solid Edge, and SolidWorks.

The software continues to build in its expansive support for the wide array of 3D product development applications in the build-up to the launch of Keyshot 7, updating the present release with the inclusion of the latest modeling libraries and software support.

Included with native support for 3D file formats, KeyShot comes with additional free plugins for most 3D modeling software. Many of these plugins have been updated to support more software versions with new plugins added to expand integration.

Despite the wider media focus on Silicon Valley, Boston and the greater New England area has had a huge impact on the way we all design and innovate - from software to hardware and 3D printing.

At DEVELOP3D LIVE USA Borealis Ventures managing director and co-founder Jesse Devitte gave this excellent 10 minute recap of Beantown’s role in the history of innovation, including engineering software companies: PTC, SolidWorks and Onshape, the 3D key printing players and the arrival of GE.

An experienced industry hand, Devitte has previously led Borealis’ investments in software such as SketchUp (acquired by Google), SpaceClaim (acquired by ANSYS), TinkerCad (acquired by Autodesk) and VICO Software (acquired by Trimble).

What to buy for the designer in your life? It might be your partner, your work colleague, your offspring or just a mate - but never underestimate how far a solder sucker, pack of beers, or hardback book will go towards making you the best present giver this year.

Whatever your budget (from a £2.80 bottle of beer, to a luxury new desktop monitor a few quid shy of a grand) there’s something in here for everyone.

Give a gift that’s worth having this year - you never know, it might inspire something brilliant.

In the world of German beverage packaging the production 40,000 – 80,000 bottles or cans per hour are not unusual. in an industry thriving on speed. A plant shut down could cost anywhere up to €30,000 per hour.

Finding the fault, requesting a spare part, shipping and installing it – in a worst case scenario can take a few days and result in delays to deliveries to the trade.

Specialists in stainless steel components for beverage filling plants, Jung & Co. Gerätebau, are increasingly relying on metals 3D printing to ensure that these spare parts for beverage filling plants are available faster.

The FLIR One gives its users the handy power of thermal vision, through detailed infrared images that can show where a heat escapement might be needed in a product casing, the temperature of a 3D print build, or for checking how much heat an electrical connection is giving off.

The iOS/Android compatible device costs £199 and attaches to your smartphone via standard connection, using its MSX Technology merges and extracts detail from thermal images and visible images to create enhanced pictures and videos that reveal what the naked eye can’t see.

In our quick workshop hands-on it’s proved a useful tool for checking the thermal properties of a whole host of things - finding possible leaks in more mechanical products, verifying (roughly) thermal simulation results, finding out where that wintery draught is coming from, and general usefulness in almost any project.